A hardworking, committed group on the East Coast, the West Hartford Citizens for Peace and Justice, prepared this with a little help from the CCLU.

The Bill of Rights vs. The Patriot Act

U.S. Constitution Bill of Rights: 1. To be secure in your home with your papers and effects free from unreason- able search and seizure. 2. Not to be searched without probable cause and a court order stating the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. 3. Not to be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law. 4. To keep private property. It can?t be taken for public use without just compensation. 5. A speedy trial. 6. An impartial jury. 7. To confront witnesses against you. 8. To equal protection under the law. 9. To freedom of speech, to peaceably assemble and to petition government for redress of grievances.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans have died to defend these rights, and the Patriot Act takes them away!

The USA PATRIOT Act: Without having to show probable cause or any evidence of wrongdoing, by simply stating that national security is an issue, federal agents may: - Wiretap your phone, - Obtain your bookstore purchases, library records, credit card, medical and student records, - Monitor your cell phone, e-mail & Internet activity, - Enter your home, conduct secret searches and take photos and even remove property without telling you until they choose. This one doesn't even need the "national security" assertion. It can be applied as part of a normal criminal investigation!

In many cases, warrants are not necessary, and when they are, judges cannot refuse to grant them. Because you don't even know these "searches" are taking place, you can't challenge their legality! If your doctor, professor, librarian, bookstore operator, banker, accountant or other record-keeper tells you that the government has requested your records, they can be prosecuted!

By merely saying national security is an issue, without having to show any evidence, the government may also: - Wiretap conversations between federal prisoners and their attorneys. No attorney-client privilege! - Use secret military tribunals to try individuals sus-pected of terrorism. No right to a jury trial! - Conduct covert activities against domestic groups, as was done in the 1960s to discredit leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. - Arrest immigrants and hold them incommunicado indefinitely, without charging them with any crime. - Refuse to release even the names of those arrested .